It was quite the great season for Greenwich, a most memorable Triple Crown season, which was the major highlight of a successful season for boys’ cross country runners and teams in the FCIAC in the fall of 2025.
So great was the season for the Greenwich runners that they can share their special bond for a long time that the Greenwich Cardinals of the 2025-26 school year became the best boys’ cross country team in school history.
There are a couple FCIAC boys cross country programs, Danbury and Staples to name the two specific ones, in which their veteran coaches Laddie Lawrence of Staples and Danbury’s Rob Murray may have a tough call to make in determining whether one of their specific teams was the best in school history.
Danbury, after all, has the conference record of 20 FCIAC championships and Staples is second with 14 team titles.
But Greenwich coach Sean Astle and most likely all the past Greenwich coaches might have to agree that these Cardinals do legitimately earn that distinction of being Greenwich High School’s best team ever.
Greenwich’s great season led by their senior Ryan Newcomb, the FCIAC individual champion, and the conference having several of the state’s best runners such as FCIAC runner-up Edward Kushel and FCIAC third-place finisher Hudson Schunk of Fairfield Warde, New Canaan senior Quinn Kilkenny, Staples senior and Class LL state champion Oliver Samuel, and Ridgefield senior Aidan Nelson highlighted a very good boys cross country season.
Among the other highlights: Staples was runner-up behind Greenwich in both the FCIAC championship meet and the Class LL state championship, Ridgefield placed third in the FCIAC meet and fifth at the State Open for the second highest finish from the conference, while Fairfield Warde and New Canaan also had strong teams which placed high in the FCIAC and two state championship postseason meets.
The Greenwich Cardinals were the total package in that they had the combination of talent, depth, and great balance with their tight pack running among many quality runners.
Runners in the FCIAC run themselves into their positions on all-conference and all-state teams by how high they finish in postseason championship meets.
The top 15 runners on the 5-kilometer (3.1 miles) course through the trails and fields at New Canaan’s Waveny Park at the FCIAC Cross Country Championships ran themselves on to the 2025-26 All-FCIAC Boys Cross Country First Team while the All-FCIAC Second Team consisted of the runners who placed 16-through-30.
It was a great, close contest to win the race from the four fastest finishers. Greenwich’s Newcomb won with a time of 15:48 which was one second faster than Kushel, and Kushel’s Fairfield Warde teammate Schunk (15:50) placed third, just two seconds behind Newcomb. Kilkenny (15:52) of New Canaan was four seconds behind the winner in fourth place.
Newcomb led the group of five scoring Cardinals who all placed in the top 15 to make the all-conference first team while tallying the winning score of 42 points which was 41 points less than runner-up Staples.
It was Greenwich’s first FCIAC championship in 49 years since the bicentennial autumn of 1976 and fourth overall conference crown.
Ridgefield’s Nelson finished among the top five with a clocking of 15:58 while leading the Tigers to third place with 113 points. Fairfield Warde (127 points) placed fourth and New Canaan (151) completed the top five.
Trumbull placed sixth with 160 points and was followed by Danbury (161), Darien (191), and Wilton (209).
Harrison Sydor of Staples finished in sixth place with a 16:04 while the following nine runners who made the All-FCIAC First Team were Michael Yardis (16:05) and Matteo Chiesara (16:06) of Greenwich, ninth-place finisher Luke Cooper (16:09) of Staples, Darien’s Andrew Sharron (16:13), Greenwich’s Benjamin Hayes (15:22), Fairfield Warde’s Maximillian Mocarski (16:25), 13th-place finisher Samuel (16:28) of Staples, Wilton’s Paul Sullivan (16:30) and Greenwich’s James Hayes (16:33).
An example of the great depth of the Greenwich Cardinals was that Oliver Eaton (16:34) was their sixth runner who placed 16th as the fastest runner on the All-FCIAC Second Team, their seventh runner Quentin Koch (16:41) finished 18th, and their eighth runner Lucas Grandjacques (16:45) placed 21st.
Danbury’s first finisher Angelo Danza (16:37) placed 17th and Trumbull’s Ted Hughes (16:43) and Austin Bell (16:44) placed 19th and 20th, respectively.
Darien’s second fastest runner Roman Gagliardi (16:46) placed 22nd, just 0.1 of a second ahead of Danbury’s Philip Dodoo (16:46.1) and 0.4 of a second ahead of 24th-place finisher Jackson Wood of Staples (16:46.4).
Ridgefield’s Arunachalam Annamalai (16:48) completed the top 25 and the other five runners on that all-conference second team were Brien McMahon’s James Cohen (16:49), Greenwich’s William Monaco (16:50), Ridgefield’s Mark Mischenko (16:50.2), New Canaan’s Boyd Cousley (16:50.6), and Ridgefield’s Ryan Taylor (16:58).
Another example of Greenwich’s depth is that there were nine Cardinals who placed among the top 27 at the FCIAC Championships to earn first- or second-team all-conference kudos and they all finished within 62 seconds of each other.
The FCIAC Championships took place on the Wednesday of Oct. 15 when Samuel placed 13th.
Ten days later the Staples senior had such a vast improvement that he ran away from the field at the 2025 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Class LL Boys Cross Country Championships and won that 5K race by 17.1 seconds at Wickham Park in Manchester. Samuel won with his time of 16:12.1 and Hamden senior Alexander Medina (16:29.8) placed second.
One more example of Greenwich’s tight pack of quality runners was that the five scoring Cardinals all ran within 13.2 seconds of one another while finishing in the top 10 to win the Class LL team championship with just 32 points, 51 less than runner-up Staples (83).
Newcomb (16:30.6) and Yardis (16:35) placed third and fourth as Greenwich’s top two runners and the next three Cardinals were Koch (seventh place, 15:36.8), Benjamin Hayes (eighth, 16:38.1), and Chiesara (10th, 16:43.8).
Any runner who finished among the top 12 at all six of the state class championships or in the Top 25 at the CIAC State Open earned their spot on the Connectictut High School Coaches Association Boys Cross Country All-State Team.
Cooper, the Staples junior, placed 11th (16:48.9) and Greenwich’s James Hayes was 12th (16:48.9) also made the CHSCA Class LL All-State Team.
Five FCIAC runners made the Class L All-State Team, including three Fairfield Warde Mustangs.
Luke Cushing won the race in 15:57.6 to lead Amity to the team championship with 72 points and Kilkenny (16:17.6) was runner-up to lead New Canaan to third place with 119 points, nine more than runner-up Hall (109).
Kushel (16:22.5) and Mocarski (16:24.9) finished fourth and fifth while Schunk (16:29.8) was seventh to lead Fairfield Warde to fourth place with 131 points.
The other Class L all-state runners from the FCIAC were New Canaan’s Ryan Monohan (10th, 16:40.5) and Darien’s Sharron (11th, 16:42).
Six days after all six class championship meets, the Greenwich Cardinals secured their Triple Crown season on the same very challenging Wickham Park course with several steep hills when they scored 87 points and Xavier placed second with 104.
Five FCIAC teams were in the top 10. Ridgefield finished fifth with 191 points. Fairfield Warde (212) placed seventh, New Canaan (239) was eighth, and Staples (243) took 10th.
East Lyne’s Sam Leone (15:37.6) was the State Open champion and Tyden LaBelle (15:38.4) of Griswold was runner-up.
Fairfield Warde’s Schunk (16:11.3) was the top finisher from the FCIAC in seventh place.
He was followed by three more runners from the conference in the top 10 – Ridgefield’s Nelson (16:11.9), Greenwich’s Newcomb (16:13.2) and Warde’s Kushel (16:14.5).